Chronic pain is also extremely difficult to treat in most cases. Acute pain is caused – usually – by an identifiable source and is fixable. This includes a broken bone, an incision from surgery, a toothache. But chronic pain is not as easily identified, not as specific, and often not fixable.

A new study, published in the latest issue of JAMA, has found that people living with chronic pain who took part in a collaborative care approach (patient and clinician education with symptom monitoring and feedback to the primary care physician) showed improvements in lowering the intensity of pain and pain-related disability, more so than did patients who received so-called “usual care.” This, depending on the type of pain, usually involves medications, maybe surgery, physiotherapy, and so on.

This finding was also seen among patients who had depression along with or as a result of their chronic pain.

You can read more about this interesting study in the journal’s press release, Program helps improve management of chronic pain.

Do you live with chronic pain? What have you tried to help it?

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Image: Stock.xchng.com

Post from: Blisstree

“Collaborative care” helps in chronic pain

1- If you don’t live with chronic pain, a blog like Help My Hurt may help you understand what it is like to live with pain and maybe how to help someone who is..

2- If you are living with chronic pain, you can see that you’re not alone; that there are others who are fighting a similar battle.

3- We discuss lesser known causes of pain, such as vulvodynia (vulvodynia and vulvar vestibulitis).

4- I find the latest press releases about new pain relief medications.

5- We discuss alternative methods of dealing with pain.

6- People are welcome to and do share their stories of living with pain (Company’s Calling)

7- Experts and guests come and share their knowledge and answer questions.

8- We view the lighter things in life sometimes (Friday Funnies).

9- I share links to websites and blogs that I think Help My Hurt readers will find interesting and helpful.

10- Because I hope to make this the most comprehensive site on the topic of pain on the Internet and a “must visit” when it comes to pain and pain-related issues!

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Post from: Blisstree

10 reasons you should read Help My Hurt

According to this article, Healing Meals: Foods That May Fight Pain, yes, certain foods can help people who are living with chronic pain. The article doesn’t recommend any particular diet or foods, but rather counsels on the trial-and-error method of elimination diets: eliminating different foods one by one to see if you feel a difference in your pain levels.

Might be worth a try.

Image: Newcom

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Post from: Blisstree

Can food help fight pain?

• US fentanyl deaths topped 1,000 over 2 years
• Fentanyl deaths topped 1,000 over two years
• Fentanyl deaths topped 1,000 over 2 yearsin US
• Fentanyl deaths in the United States topped 1,000 over 2 years

Seems clear enough, right? Over 1000 people died in the US, over a 2-year period because of fentanyl, right? WRONG. It’s not clear at all.

Want to know what the real headline should be?

Click here to read more.

Post from: Blisstree

You’ve likely seen this headline: Fentanyl Killing People!!

An 18-year-old in the United Kingdom had been experiencing severe abdominal pain for five years before she was finally diagnosed with Crohn’s disease. Now that she has a diagnosis, doctors can work on trying to get the disease under control.

The disposable “camera pill” is swallowed and then tracked as it goes through the patient’s digestive system. The radio transmitter provides the images of areas in the body that would otherwise not be seen. You can read more about this story in this article: Teenager who swallowed revolutionary pill camera finally diagnosed after five years of crippling pain. Sometimes, you just have to love new technology.

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Post from: Blisstree

Camera in pill diagnoses teen’s Crohn’s disease

If you consider the amount of time we spend on our feet and how much weight and pressure is put on them on a daily basis, we really don’t give our feet enough credit for being the marvelous structures they are. Feet are often neglected and even abused if you think of the sky-high heels some women wear, the stubbing of toes as we walk barefoot, the blisters, and so on.

The problem with us and our feet is this is truly one of those situations of “you don’t know what you have until it’s gone.” It’s only when our feet hurt and cause problems that we notice them and – unfortunately – sometimes it’s too late and we end up living with chronic pain in our feet.

Click here to read more.

Image: iStock

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Post from: Blisstree

10 tips to prevent foot problems and foot pain

The MayoClinic.com has this article and a video to help you understand: How you feel pain.

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Post from: Blisstree

How you feel pain

The American Pain Foundation has put together some helpful information on this topic, Financial Issues. According to the article, “Chronic pain can affect all areas of your life including your finances. The following are some practical financial tips to cope with the financial issues that often go hand-in-hand with a chronic illness.”

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Post from: Blisstree

Living with pain can be costly

rubber duckie!

And R is also for:

Radiating pain: If you tell your doctor or nurse about the pain you are having, you’ll likely be asked if the pain is radiating. This means, does the pain go beyond the original spot. For example, if you have pain in your stomach area, does it radiate to the back or up into the chest?

Repetitive stress injury: These days, when we hear repetitive stress injury, or RSI, most people automatically think of carpal tunnel syndrome. However, RSIs are injuries that can happen anywhere on the body and are caused by doing the same motion again and again over a long period of time. This could be tennis elbow, back pain, neck pain, and so on.

Rebound pain: Sometimes, when people are living with chronic pain, they take more pain medications than they should. They feel better so they continue to do so. However, when their pain – often headaches – they just take more medication. But, what they may be feeling is called rebound pain. It’s the body’s reaction to the wearing off of the pain reliever.

Range of motion: As you move your arm or leg around, or your foot or hand, if you don’t have any pain or problems, you likely have a full range of motion. That means your joint is allowing you to move about as it should and as you want it. If you have problems with a joint, this range of motion may be limited. This limitation can tell your doctor or physiotherapist a lot about how well or how badly your joint is doing with treatment.

Rheumatoid arthritis: A very common type of arthritis, rheumatoid arthritis is caused by inflammation in the joints. The joints become thick, red, and painful. The joints can also become quite deformed as a result of the inflammation and pain.

Here are a few sites that can tell you more about RA:

• MedlinePlus: Rheumatoid Arthritis
• Rheumatoid arthritis – MayoClinic.com
• Rheumatoid Arthritis

Radiculopathy: The term radiculopathy refers to a disease of the spinal nerve roots and spinal nerves. It results in pain going from the spine and radiating outwards.

Reflex sympathetic dystrophy (RSD): This is the old name of what is now called complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS).

Image: Newscom

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Post from: Blisstree

ABCs of pain: R is for…

Company’s Calling, a popular Monday feature, hasn’t appeared for a while because I ran out of volunteers who wished to be interviewed. I would love to get the feature going again because I get emails (and comments) from people who appreciate learning how others have dealt with and who are dealing with their issues of chronic pain.

When people are living with chronic pain, they often feel alone – and we definitely know that they aren’t. Would you or someone you know be interested in sharing your story? You can remain anonymous if you would like and you can answer the questionnaire or write up your story as you feel is right for you.

Here are some great examples of previous Company’s Calling features:

• Company’s calling - Janine Shepherd
• Company’s calling – a different type of visitor
• Company’s calling: For Grace’s founder, Cynthia Toussaint speaks out
• Company’s calling – an RN speaks about her fibromyalgia
• Company’s calling – living with the pain of interstitial cystitis
• Company’s calling – the road to a diagnosis for endometriosis
• Company’s calling – a retired surgeon speaks about his nerve pain

If you think this may be something you would like to do, please email me at marijke.durning@b5media.com or leave a comment below and I’ll get in touch with you.

Image: iStock

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Post from: Blisstree

Call out for Company’s Calling participants